Autozine – Autotest: Nissan Qashqai e-Power

Along with the arrival of “strong”technology, the Qashqai undergoes a minor facelift. The appearance has been slightly changed for this version. For example, the Qashqai e-Power has a closed grille to improve refinement. The actual air intake can be found just below the front bumper.

Space and equipment

“strong” presents the Qashqai semi-electric car. That requires a battery that is smaller than for a fully electric car, but still so large that something is taken from the cargo area. The passenger position has not changed yet.

With the advent of “strong” The Qashqai gets a new audio, communication and navigation system. Its operation is more similar to that of a mobile phone and from now on the Qashqai also has an online assistant. Depending on the command given, this is a smart assistant from Nissan itself, or the command is passed to Amazon’s Alexa (for example, to control home appliances).

e-Power in theory

The idea of ​​a traditional hybrid drive is that the internal combustion engine is only good at high speeds (+/- 90 km/h) and constant. Electric motor is best for low and variable speed. A hybrid park combines both. Simply put, the electric motor drives the car in the city and the gasoline engine takes it on the highway.

concept behind “strong” it’s different! Bee “strong” the petrol engine continues to operate at a more efficient speed. This is regardless of the speed of the car, because the power of the internal combustion engine is only used to drive the alternator. The electricity generated by this goes to the battery. An electric car drives the wheels with power from the battery.

By using the battery as a central point, there is room for other innovations. The so-called “compression” of the engine can be different without the driver experiencing a sudden increase or decrease in power. This makes the combustion engine run more efficiently. That’s why “strong” according to Nissan 10 to 15 percent more economical than the most common parallel hybrid (also known as perfect combination in terms of marketing).

e-Power in practice

Because e-Power is always powered by an electric motor, this Qashqai moves smoothly, quietly and effortlessly like a fully electric car.

“The Qashqai e-Power is so quiet that the air conditioner makes more noise than an electric train at low speeds”

If the internal combustion engine is not directly connected to the wheels, the RPM does not vary with the speed of the car and that gives an unusual feeling. Nissan copes with this as much as possible with good engine management, anti-noise and a lot of sound insulation. Results: Qashqai e-Power is so quiet that the air conditioner makes more noise than the electric train at low speeds.! The combustion engine is only open at high speed, but the noise level is not higher than in the regular Qashqai.

An important advantage of electric driving is the possibility of driving with one pedal. Just like with an electric car, you can choose to hold on when the accelerator pedal is released. The more suddenly the accelerator pedal is released, the more the car holds (and recovers energy). In addition, Qashqai e-Power offers normal, sporty and extra economical modes and the difference between these modes is clearly visible. Those who don’t need all these settings can just put the machine in “drive” and leave all the thinking to the computer.

Qashqai e-Power succeeds in combining the comfort of driving an electric car with a petrol engine. However, consumption is unfortunately much lower than that of a traditional hybrid or even a modern gasoline engine without electric assistance. On paper, the Qashqai e-Power uses 5.3 liters per 100 kilometers and that’s a lot. In addition, in practice this use can only be achieved at very low speeds and under good weather conditions. According to Nissan, a conscious choice was made for driving pleasure over low consumption, but this denies the intention of the manufacturer himself!

Road maintenance

Qashqai is in the familiar “CMF-C” platform from Nissan and was therefore already ready for renewable energy sources at the time of its inception. This is not only about the position of the batteries, but also their weight. So Nissan was able to copy the Qashqai relatively easily with extra weight and a different weight distribution. Not only the suspension has been modified, but also the steering.

The result of all these modifications is not that the e-Power drives the same as a Qashqai with only an internal combustion engine. Instead, Nissan has found a new balance that makes the car heavy, but feels light and even sporty.

Conclusion

Does Nissan’s e-Power technology deliver what it promises? Only half. This construction of a gasoline engine that provides power to an electric motor actually provides peace, comfort and flexibility of electric operation. In addition, as in an electric car, it can be operated with one pedal.

However, depending on the environment, it becomes apparent when the gasoline engine kicks in and/or produces excess power. The main problem, however, is: consumption is not lower than that of a traditional hybrid, and not lower than that of a small modern turbo engine. And despite the fact that this so-called “serial hybrid” is easier and therefore cheaper to make than a parallel hybrid, the purchase price is not lower. Due to CO2 emissions, the Qashqai e-Power in the Netherlands is not even cheaper than a fully electric car!

In short, Nissan Qashqai e-Power is an electric car on gasoline. So this Qashqai is only useful for areas where the charging model leaves much to be desired and/or electric operation is still in its infancy.